Child playing with lighter might have caused Springfield Township fire
12/4/2006Springfield Township fire officials said that a child playing with a lighter caused a fire this morning which caused an estimated $700,000 damage at Valley Stream Apartments.
Four people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation as a result of the fire, which broke out about 8:15 a.m. in a lower unit of an eight-unit apartment building at 6433 Brixton Rd.
Residents climbed out of windows to escape the flames, and one man dropped his 14-month-old son out of a second-floor window into the arms of the boy s mother and a passerby below, authorities said.
Springfield Township fire Chief Barry Cousino estimated damage at $700,000. He said the fire was started in a lower apartment by a 4-year-old boy playing with either matches or a lighter. He and his mother were among those being treated for injuries.
The Greater Toledo Area Chapter of the American Red Cross was on scene providing hot coffee, food and other essentials to those forced outside into the bitter cold.
A spokesman for Valley Stream Apartments said the company will do its best to put those displaced into unoccupied units elsewhere in the complex while fire and smoke damage is repaired
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